1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to store carriers for mounting a releasable store on an aircraft and, more particularly, to a store ejection system capable of ejecting stores of various size and shapes.
2. Background of the Invention
The store referred to herein may be used to contain munitions, or to contain other material to be dropped from an aircraft. Military aircraft used to dispense bombs, rockets, and other stores in flight usually include racks located beneath the wings and fuselage, or in weapon bays designed to release the stores upon command.
At the time of target acquisition, a release mechanism is activated which results in mechanical release and subsequent forcible ejection of that weapon away from the aircraft. Presently, most state of the art bomb ejector racks utilize pyrotechnic (explosive) cartridges which, on ignition, generate high pressure gas for actuating the mechanical release mechanism, as well as for providing high pressure to ejection rams which forcibly eject the store from the aircraft.
Many new stores being developed can not be carried on conventional stores ejection systems because these weapons typically have fins, strakes, or protrusions that may hide or blanket access to the ejector rack once the store is raised into position, especially in weapon bays where access is limited.
Current bomb ejector racks require direct access during the store loading process so that cartridges can be inserted, swaybraces can be tightened, and safety pins can be installed and/or removed. New generation weapon designs have larger fins as compared to previous weapon. Also, newer aircraft are being designed with smaller weapon bays. This combination results in minimal, to no, access being available to physically reach the bomb ejector rack. Loading of weapons has become cumbersome and time consuming. In some cases, the ability to carry certain types of weapons has been lost.
Accordingly, what is needed is a stores ejection system for mounting jettisonable stores on an aircraft, where access to the stores ejection system is not required.